Picked up Dani Andropolous from her school without Betsy Stewart Andropolous' permission (May 1988)

Assaulted Tonio Reyes [Oct 1988]

Brief Character History

The mysterious Rod Landry’s arrival in Oakdale was a quiet one. A quiet, yet brooding man who came from "out West", he began working as a stableman for Lucinda Walsh and soon became close friends with her daughter, Lily Walsh and also Betsy Stewart. However, unbeknownst to anyone, he had a secret agenda for being in town and revealed himself as Josh Snyder, the man who raped Iva Snyder when she was thirteen. Now fifteen years later and having changed his name to Rod Landry (which was the name his biological father went by), Josh was eager to make amends for what he'd done. Confronted by the Snyders, he tried to explain that he was abused by his stepfather as a child and that affected how he acted toward Iva. Though Josh’s mother refused to corroborate his story, in time she admitted that Henry Snyder was abusive toward Josh. When Josh learned that Iva conceived a child out of the rape, he asked what happened to the child. Though she told him that their daughter was stillborn, he didn't believe it. During all of this his friendship with Lily was growing and that made Iva very nervous. Finally one night Iva found them together and misinterpreting the situation, Iva blurted out the truth: Lily was their daughter! Though the entire Snyder family was still wary of Josh, he decided to stay in town to get to know Lily. Also at this time, he got to know his own biological father, oilman Cal Stricklyn.

The one Snyder who wasn't instantly wary of Josh was Meg, Iva's youngest sister. Meg liked Josh and confided in him about her unhappy marriage to Tonio Reyes. The two grew closer and when Betsy turned down Josh’s marriage proposal he turned to Meg for comfort and they made love. Soon after, Meg learned she was pregnant, but fearing her husband, told Josh that the child was Tonio's. However, fear wasn't the only reason Meg was staying with Tonio; she also liked his money. However, soon Meg grew tired of his philandering ways and prepared to leave him. Though Tonio tried to use threats to get Meg to stay, she left him. Unfortunately, Meg lost the child in a violent confrontation with Tonio and was left infertile. Through all of this, her and Josh's love grew and, to the shock of the entire Snyder family, they made plans to marry. Now at peace with his family, Josh changed his name back to Snyder and he and Meg married in a beautiful ceremony at the Snyder farm. The couple then moved to Waco, Texas where he works at Stricklyn Oil.

In November 1993, Josh came back to Oakdale without Meg, and it was learned that he and Meg were going through some marital difficulties, Josh's actual reason for returning to Oakdale was to visit the recently married Lily during the Thanksgiving holiday. Although not forthcoming about the specifics of the marital difficulties between him and Meg, when Lily told Josh that she was fighting her feelings for Holden in favor of making her marriage to Damian Grimaldi work, Josh hinted to her that maybe it wasn't the best idea for her to fight those feelings. Unfortunately, in secret, Damian overheard Josh and Lily speaking, and this would cause trouble in Damian and Lily's marriage for over two years. A few days after Thanksgiving, Cal and Emma strongly suggested to Josh that he return to Waco to try to make amends to Meg and give his marriage a fighting chance. Later, when Josh and Meg returned to town, in June 1994, for the remarriage of Caleb to Julie Wendall, their marriage appeared to be back on track, but there was an undercurrent of tension between Josh and Meg.

Almost a decade later, in 2005, the Snyders would learn from Meg that her marriage was over, though she refused to give any details as to the reason.